High schoolers swell the ranks of Junior ROTC

East Aurora High's unit leads nation

somefearprograms focus on minorities

December 28, 2009|By Margaret Ramirez, TRIBUNE REPORTER

After seeing a presentation on the Navy Junior ROTC program at East Aurora High School, Juan DeLaTorre saw a possible path to a better life.

Then, a few days later, on April 16, 2007, when his older brother, Jesse DeLaTorre, was killed in Iraq, his decision was sealed. Juan became a Navy Junior ROTC cadet to escape the temptation of the streets and to honor his brother's memory.

"When I was an eighth-grader, a lot of my friends were involved in drugs and gangs, and I was getting too close to that," said DeLaTorre, 16, now a junior at East Aurora. "When I joined ROTC, I became a better person. It helped me a lot."

DeLaTorre is one of more than 638 cadets in East Aurora's successful Navy Junior ROTC program. In 1995, the program started with just 30 cadets, and by 2005, there were more than 500.

This September, more than 300 freshmen volunteered for the program, making it the largest Navy Junior ROTC unit in the nation.

While the growth of East Aurora's program parallels the nation's continuing war in Iraq, school officials and student cadets said the reasons for the program's popularity run deeper than patriotism and are more closely related to socioeconomic status, tough family situations and students' aspirations.

In East Aurora, where many students come from financially strapped immigrant families, where the pull of gang life and drugs is real, the program offers an opportunity to change lives.

"Part of the success of this program is it literally takes people off the streets," said Lt. Commander Darryl N. Person, a retired naval officer who heads the program.

"We have after-school ROTC programs, we have color guard, drill team, academic teams, physical training teams. All those things to keep them active and engaged, so that the street does not pull them in. They see this as an opportunity or steppingstone to something greater."

However, some education experts have expressed concern with the explosive growth of Junior ROTC programs in schools with predominantly low-income Latino and African-American students. At East Aurora, for example, the student population is 84 percent Latino, 8 percent black and 5 percent white, with the Navy Junior ROTC program mirroring that ethnic breakdown.

In the neighboring West Aurora school district, where 44 percent of students are Latino and 34 percent are white, there is no ROTC program.

"Most of these programs are located in poor or low-income Latino and African-American communities," said Pauline Lipman, a policy studies professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago's College of Education. "So we have to ask: If the programs are so great, why aren't they in white affluent communities too?"

Other critics of ROTC programs argue they are recruitment vehicles for the military. But Person said that was a misperception. He said the program emphasizes discipline, scholarship, citizenship and community service with the goal being college.

"Even though it's military-based, this is not a recruiting arm for the military," Person said. "What we push is going to college. That's our emphasis. Please go to college."

The school does not keep statistics on how many graduates enlist in the service. However, Person said several East Aurora program graduates have joined the military. Three of them, including Jesse DeLaTorre, died in Iraq.

Linda Oceguera, 17, a senior cadet commander who plans to attend college to study criminal law, disagreed with the claim that the military might be taking advantage of Latino and African-American youths. Oceguera said some Latinos might join ROTC as a way to establish their place in society.

"We want to show pride in our nationalities. In the past, we've been discriminated against and seen as minorities. We want to say, 'Hey, we're just as good as everybody else. We're Americans, we're born here and ... we're able to do good and make a difference in this world.'"

Though several high schools have Navy Junior ROTC programs, East Aurora stands apart because the unit has its own building, which is shared by the National Guard on weekends. The building holds three classrooms, a gym and an indoor shooting range -- a prized feature that few Illinois high schools have.

Naval instructors and cadets said the East Aurora program's popularity has grown because of its stellar performance in national drill and color guard competitions. Another reason for the unit's growth is that many students such as Juan DeLaTorre learn about the program from older siblings and become inspired to follow in their footsteps.

The program at East Aurora is a daily class that is a substitute for physical education. On Wednesdays, cadets are required to wear uniforms for inspection and take part in military drills to learn salutes and proper behavior in uniform.

"This is where the discipline comes in," said George Allen, a program instructor.

Pho Le, a senior cadet captain, said the program gave him a sense of belonging that he had been searching for. While he credits his parents with supporting him, Le said he found a second family in the ROTC unit that motivated him in a different way.

"It's like a brotherhood. They take care of you. You have fun with them. We go eat after drills. It's like basically a new family," he said. "They took me in as their own son, and I love them. I love every single one of them."

Upon graduation in June, Le said he would enlist in the military because he didn't want to place any financial burden on his parents.

DeLaTorre said he knew several students who joined the program because they lacked family support at home.

"Everybody needs to be loved and cared for. Everybody needs to hear congratulations and be able to be proud of yourself. And some people don't get that from their parents or anybody else. ROTC just gives it to you," he said.